: [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION March 6, 2026: A previous version of this story incorrectly said that the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland will host the Washington National Opera this weekend. In fact, the performance will be at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.]
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Washington National Opera is performing this weekend. It is their first production since it left the Kennedy Center, where it had been housed since 1971. Its departure came after President Trump and his allies took control of the arts complex and ticket sales plummeted. NPR culture correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas checked in to see how this new chapter is going.
ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, BYLINE: Imagine you're a longtime patron of the Washington National Opera. You know where you like to park. You have your favorite seats, your favorite preshow restaurant. And now the opera company has up and moved to new locations. Not just one, but several. Are you going to follow them?
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UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMERS #1: (Singing) Marching onward. Marching onward.
TSIOULCAS: The Washington National Opera is making a big bet that you will. This week, it has been putting final touches on its newest production, which opens Saturday night. It's a new adaptation of Scott Joplin's unfinished opera, "Treemonisha."
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UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMERS #1: (Singing) Hop and skip.
TSIOULCAS: The WNO is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. In January, it announced its departure from the Kennedy Center weeks before President Trump announced plans to close the arts complex for two years for renovations. Last year, subscriptions and individual ticket sales were down despite the opera company trying to coax its audience to stick around.
FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO: And we did try as best as we could to encourage them that we are a bipartisan organization, but people really voted with their feet and with their pocketbooks. And so we realized that there was really no choice for us, since we wanted to survive another 70 years, that we had to strike out on our own.
TSIOULCAS: That's Francesca Zambello, the company's artistic director. She chose to make the company's turmoil very public in an interview with The Guardian newspaper last November. The spring performances had long been planned out - Joplin's "Treemonisha," then Robert Ward's operatic version of Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible," and to top it off, a real crowd pleaser, Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story."
But then it was suddenly an itinerant company. "Treemonisha" and "The Crucible" were moved to Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University, and it's taking an even bigger swing with "West Side Story." Some of the performances will take place at the Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland. Other performances of "West Side Story" will be more than an hour away at the Lyric Baltimore. The opera's general director, Timothy O'Leary, says he's confident that supporters will go along for the ride.
TIMOTHY O'LEARY: What's been inspiring about all this is that the staff and the board and the audience and the donors have been so unified and so outspoken in their support for Washington National Opera and our mission. You know, we're a 70-year-old organization, and suddenly, we're a 70-year-old startup again because we've had to rebuild our entire financial and administrative infrastructure.
ANNE MIDGETTE: People get very emotionally involved in stories of organizations possibly folding or organizations in crisis. And it is always frustrating to me that that doesn't translate into ticket sales.
TSIOULCAS: That's Anne Midgette. She's the former classical music critic for The Washington Post. She says she hopes the organization will be able to keep its focus on the work it is presenting.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMER: (Singing) Swing that lady.
UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMERS #2: (Singing) Going around.
UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMER: (Singing) Swing that lady.
UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMERS #2: (Singing) Going around.
TSIOULCAS: Francesca Zambello says that at their heart, opera people are theater people, and she's betting that folks will stick with the WNO.
ZAMBELLO: Theater people, I think, are the most adaptable people. And we're like, OK, we'll do it like this now.
TSIOULCAS: So despite everything, the show must go on. Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR News, New York.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERFORMERS #2: (Singing) Boys all smiling, going around. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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